Honda to invest more to build second factory in Indonesia

Surabaya, East Java (ANTARA News) – PT Honda Prospect Motor (HPM) will invest Rp3 trillion more in Indonesia to build a second car factory in the country. The decision to build the factory in Karawang, West Java, is made in facing the implementation of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, HPM President Director Tomoki Uchida said.

“As long as there is potential market we will invest and Indonesia is one of the right place for that purpose,” Uchida said during the launch of “All New Honda Jazz”, here on Wednesday night.

He said another reason for building a new factory in Indonesia is to expand the domestic automotive market.

Until now the market interest is still in the country that makes Indonesia one of the most important markets in ASEAN, he added.

“The new factory will be built in the same location with the first one. The new factory would have a production capacity of 120,000 units of cars per year,” he said.

The new factory would increase the production capacity of the company to 200,000 units of car per year from 80,000 tons at present, he said.

“It will create 3,900 new jobs, bringing the total number to 7,500 jobs,” he added.

He said East Java is a potential market for “All New Honda Jazz” and “Mobilio RS” .

“We will maintain the position as a leader in the market hatchback cars in the country,” he said.

He said sales of Honda Jazz reached 1,200 units in the first half of 2014 , adding with that sales Honda has a 50.2 percent share of hatchback car market in Indonesia. (*)